As someone who has devoted a great deal of time, attention and money to attempting to find solutions to homelessness and to alleviate the immediate needs of individuals who are houseless, I find that I still have an aversion to being hustled on street corners by panhandlers, begging for money to ostensibly buy a meal, a bus ticket or to secure shelter. On the other hand, how am I to know if this person’s needs are genuine?
Over time, I have found that the greater benefit can be achieved by doing advance research in and around the areas that I live and work to secure current information about the location of social services, veterans affairs, shelters and soup kitchens, etc. with the contact numbers and hours that they are open. I print this information on card quality colored paper about the size of a 2 X 5 index card and hand them out to the people who are begging.
Sometimes, I will still contribute a dollar or two, but at least I know that the person can benefit from the information that I have given them, should they choose to do so.
It might be useful for someone in your real estate office to compile this information and make it available for everyone in the firm to print out and distribute as needed each time that they find a needy person whom they would like to help. This little extra effort on the part of one person can benefit many by directing them to the appropriate sources of assistance.
